Earth Trojan Asteroid

Earth Trojan Asteroid

Earth trojans are asteroids that orbit the Sun a similar orbital path as that of Earth in the vicinity of the Earth–Sun Lagrangian points L₄ (leading 60°) and L₅ (trailing 60°). They are named after the trojan asteroids that are associated with the analogous Lagrangian points of Jupiter.

Their location in the sky as observed from Earth's surface would average about 60° east or west of the Sun. Because people tend to search for asteroids at much greater elongations, few searches have been done in these locations.

The 300-meter-diameter asteroid 2010 TK₇ has been determined to be associated with the Earth L₄ Lagrangian point, leading Earth's orbit, by Martin Connors and colleagues of Athabasca University using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. It is the first confirmed Earth trojan.